Why Tom Watson Isn't the Answer as US Ryder Cup Captain

Chris Cole/Getty ImagesTom watson rooted his U.S. team to a victory at The Belfry in the 1993 Ryder Cup.

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Tom Watson is one of the great gentlemen in the history of golf.

He played the game hard and very well, winning eight major championships and has become a great ambassador for the game much like Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

His selection this morning as captain of the 2014 United States Ryder Cup team has raised eyebrows and ruffled feathers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

With the United States having lost seven of the last nine of the biennial matches, the PGA of America obviously felt that something drastic was needed. Appointing a golf great who will be 65 years old in 2014 is definitely drastic.

Here are five reasons why naming Watson isn’t the answer for the U.S. Ryder cup team.

Captain's Role Exaggerated

Getty Images/Getty ImagesCaptain Tom Watson and his team were the last U.S team to win the Ryder Cup on European turf.

It has long been my feeling that far too much is made about the captain’s role in this competition.

Picking the team isn’t that monumental of a task, considering a point system automatically determines the first eight players on the team. The captain’s picks rarely come from anywhere except the next four spots on the points list.

Picking uniform styles and making players aware of social and team responsibilities take some time. Even the strategy part of the Ryder Cup, i.e., who plays with whom, is decided mostly on player preferences.

The players still have to perform and produce and seven of the last nine times this event has been held, they haven’t. Making a 65-year-old like Tom Watson the captain isn't going to change that.

And while we know that combining a 40-something guy with a team of 20 and 30-year-olds hasn’t been particularly successful, I can’t come up with a list of reasons why the 65-year-old guarantees any better success.

Golf is golf, but will Tom Watson really be able to find the key to get into the minds of Jason Dufner, Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley and Hunter Mahan to make them Ryder Cup stars?

While he still occasionally competes on the PGA Tour, it stands to reason he can’t be in touch with what’s going on there as much as he used to be.

Can Tom Watson Teach His Team the Intracacies of Links Golf?

Scott Halleran/Getty ImagesVery few players have been able to master links golf like Tom Watson has.

Tom Watson won eight major titles, five of those Open Championships, arguably making him the best links champion ever.

He almost won a sixth in 2009, save for an eight-foot par putt missed on the 72nd hole. All of that is wonderful and he deserves his special place in the annals of the game.

The question to me is: Will Watson be able to pass on his passionate feelings about links-style golf and how to play it properly to a dozen head-strong younger men who, deep in their hearts, feel as though they invented the game?

And because Watson’s performance across the ocean set the bar so high, how will he handle the frustration of his team not being able to be nearly as proficient at this kind of game as he was?